Programme of the fi eld trip Meeti ng point: 8.00 am in the Lobby of the Holiday Inn Hotel Buses leave the hotel car park at 8.15 8.15 – 18.30 Route Trnava – Devín – Devínske jazero – Horný les forest – Kakvica locality – Malé Leváre – locality Raudazí – Moravský Ján (SK) - Hohenau (AT) – Skalica (packed lunch will be provided for those parti cipants that have booked this package; all the other parti cipants should bring their own lunch) 19.30 – 20.30 Skalica Courthouse – Green Heart of the Central Europe – 10 years of the Trilateral Ramsar Platf orm – cooperati on within the Trilateral Ramsar Site Floodplains of the Morava-Dyje-Danube Confl uence in Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia 20.30 – 22.00 Dinner in Skalica Courthouse (provided by the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic) Buses leave Skalica to take parti cipants back to their hotels in Trnava at 22.00. The trip is guided by Mr. Dušan Vlachovič, director of Záhorie Protected Landscape Area, Mrs. Mirka Plassmann and Mr. Milan Janák of Daphne – Insti tute of Applied Ecology, Mr. Gerhard Egger, Mrs. Karin Donnerbaum – WWF Austria. The expected situati on at the end of September in this part of Slovakia is cool (up to 20 °C), cloudy and possibly rainy weather. As the trip includes a short walk in wet habitats, parti cipants are advised to bring a wind- and water-proof jacket and sturdy footwear. The meteorological prognosis can be found on following website: htt p://www. meteoprog.sk/en/weather/Malacky/11_15/. 2 1st stop Moravský Ján – Hoheanu Borský Svätý Jur (! Sekule Moravský Svätý Ján Devín Austria Devín is a part of the Slovak capital Brati slava on a confl uence of the Morava and the Legend Danube rivers (158 m above sea level), near the border with Austria. So called Devín excursion itinerary Závod Gate is a breakthrough of the Danube River to the Carpathian Mountains. The area (! excursion stops along these roads border rivers was railways a part of so called Raudazí Malé Leváre “Iron Curtain”. It water courses (! Veľké Leváre forests symbolized the towns and willages ideological fi ght Gajary and acted as a physical boundary Kostolište dividing Europe Malacky in two separate areas during the ti me between the WWII (1945) and the Cold War (1989). Valuable Suchohrad Jakubov nature conditi ons were developed in this security zone - well preserved fl oodplain forests, grassland habitats, oxbow lakes and other wetlands can be found there. Several Záhorská Ves nature reserves and other protected areas have been designated in the vicinity of (! Záhorská Ves Devín, including Natura 2000 sites (Danube Floodplains, Brati slava Floodplains, Devínska Plavecký Štvrtok kobyla). Láb Pernek The ruins of an ancient castle on a limestone rocky cliff above the rivers represent one Kakvica (! of the most important monuments of the Slovak Jablonové history. Excepti onal strategic locati on, already known Vysoká pri Morave Lozorno by Celts and Romans, was the main reason to build a Zohor Slavic hill-fortress right there. The site is called Dovina in the fi rst writt en reference from 864 AD. It was one ² of the most important fortresses during the era of the Great Moravia. Aft er the fall of the Great Moravian Empire, Devín lost its strategic importance for a long Stupava period. It regained importance in the 13th century, Borinka during Austrian-Hungarian fi ghts of Devín Gate, when Marianka th 01.5 3 6 9 12 15 Záhorská Bystrica a stone fortress-castle was built on the castle hill. During the 15 century, extramural sett lement with a new dwelling palace on the east side was added. The castle cliff is also Kilometers Devínska Nová Ves protected as the Nati onal Nature Monument. Geological evoluti on of the Morava River The area is a part of Vienna Basin, which is, based on geological evoluti on, classifi ed as Devín (! Neogene sedimentary basin. The basin fi ll is composed of shallow – marine, and partly of lacustrine Neogene deposits, built-up mostly of sandstone and clays with diff erent Map of the area and stops during the excursion facial development, att aining thickness of approximately 3 km. Neogene sediments 3 do not reach surface, they are overlayed by Quarternary sediments. Quarternary is Plant communiti es of Cnidion represented mainly by fl uvial sediments - sands and sandy gravels. The compositi on is venosi, Alopecurion pratensis, towards back transiti ng to sands with fi ne gravel with parti ngs of clayey sands or sandy Molinion coerulae, Hydrochariti on, clays. Thickness of Quarternary deposits varies in range of 7 – 12 m. Magnopotamion, Bidenti on triparti ti , Salicion albae, Ulmenion The formati on of the Morava River began 1,75 mil. years ago. The river runs from the minoris, considered as threatened hills of Malé Karpaty Mountains towards the centre of Vienna Basin. The river spring on nati onal as well as internati onal is located near Kralický Sněžník hill in the alti tude of 1 275 m above sea level (near the level are well conserved. border of the Czech Republic and Poland). River length is 329 km. The area is rich in biodiversity, The Morava River has always played an important role as one of the main tributaries of with around 600 cyanophyte the Danube River, and as a migrati on route for many plant and animal species expanding species, 800 species of vascular from the Danube region towards northern lati tudes. The Morava fl oodplains have plants, 100 species of molluscs, 50 been colonised by Palaeolithic and Neolithic civilisati ons, which were the fi rst to induce fi sh species, 14 amphibian species, anthropic pressure on the river ecosystem. 256 bird species and 43 mammals, all considered as rare and scarce within Pannonian bioregion. Within this area, subendemic and/or typical species of corresponding Hydrology biogeographical region occur, for example Lathyrus pannonicus, Fraxinus angusti folia Within Slovakia, the Morava is a lowland river with a very low average slope of subsp. danubialis. etc. 0,18 ‰, average yearly discharge is 111 m3.s-1, average current velocity is 0,6 m.s-1. The river penetrates into The area is an important site for migrati ng bird species and a wintering site of water birds. Quarternary sediments of Protected areas: eolian and fl uvial origin. On • Protected Landscape Area Záhorie – fi rst lowland, large-scale protected area in the this substrate, the water fl ow Slovak Republic. created naturally meandering • Ramsar Site Morava Floodplains (1996) lowland river channel and • 12 SCIs (2004), Alúvium Moravy pri Suchohrade, Ciglát, Devínske alúvium Moravy, fl oodplain with a dense Devínske jazero, Devínske lúky, Dlhé lúky, Gajarské alúvium Moravy, Horný les, network of side arms and Kačenky, Kútsky les, Rieka Morava, V Studienkach meanders. Total catchment • SPA Záhorské Pomoravie (2004) area is • Trilateral Ramsar Site Floodplains of the Morava-Dyje-Danube Confl uence (2007) 26 580 km2, lying mostly on silicate upland of Sudeten and Bohemian massifs. Problems negati vely infl uencing the natural Representati veness of the area The area is a good and representati ve example of natural and near-natural wetland processes types, associated with riverine ecosystem of central Europe, nowadays considered as Water management – key rare or uncommon in Europe. The area is inhabited by 18 globally threatened fauna importance species (according to IUCN categories: 3 VU, 8 LR, 7 DD species), for example: Triturus • technical regulati ons of the cristatus, Crex crex, Numenius arquata, Castor fi ber, Microtus oeconomus, etc.) and river several plant species, considered as threatened on nati onal level (4 CR, 10 EN, 18 • rapid decrease of lateral VU and 6 LR species), and some of them also on internati onal level (for example waterbodies, backwaters, loss Achillea aspleniifolia, Lathyrus pannonicus, Plantago alti ssima, Lindernia procumbens, of spawning grounds Bolboschoenus mariti mus, Allium angulosum, Genti ana pneumonanthe, Grati ola • deteriorati on of water quality offi cinalis, Ophioglossum vulgatum etc). in the river 4 Forest management – alluvial forests Because of frequent fl ooding, most of these localiti es were abandoned, enabling weed • forest types change towards dryer forest types and invasive species spreading. Biodiversity decreased again, but fortunately, protecti on • forests with allochtonous tree species of most valuable parts of sites was assured, and projects to recover harmed parts of • unsuitable management – loss of conti nuity alluvium (ploughed alluvial meadows and cut off meanders) were implemented. Agriculture Since 1997, 140 ha of meadows were restored. • notable decrease of meadows (permanent grassland) + illegal ploughland within In agricultural producti on, plant farming dominates over animal farming. Farmers prefer inundati on permanent grasslands over ploughland as hay-market is more profi table. Biodiversity conservati on Agricultural land consti tutes 56% of the Ramsar Site area. • disappearance and decrease of several species Predominant part of agricultural land is grassland (70%). • beaver acti viti es colliding with human interests (economical and security) Transformati on of permanent grassland sti ll lasts. Human acti viti es present from ancient Management and grassland ti mes have infl uenced natural auto- recovery goals: processes. Prevailing part of communiti es - To maintain the area and developed with human infl uence – as proporti on of grasslands within a cultural land they depend on human Ramsar site by permanent input, and also on recovery of human management (owners or users) caused disturbances. - To transform the arable land to Ramsar Site area range from mouth of the permanent grasslands with near- Morava, 0,0 rkm, up to the confl uence of natural species compositi on the Dyje on rkm 72. It covers an area of - To maintain the meadows on 5200 ha, including: the borderline with forest and 55.9 % arable land (38,6 % meadows) waterbodies in order to prevent 32.5 % forests decrease of their area.